Before Jesus Was Crucified, He Made Sure To Tell His Followers All That Was Going To Happen That They May Not Be Discouraged. In Line With This, The Lord Told Peter, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan Has Asked For You, That He May Sift You As Wheat. But I Have Prayed For You, That Your Faith Should Not Fail; And When You Have Returned To Me, Strengthen Your Brethren”’ (Luke 22:31-32). The Aim Of The Enemy Here Was To Isolate Peter From His Pack, So That He May Be Able To Overcome Him, And This Is A Strategy He Still Uses Today – Pushing Believers Out From The Brethren Into Solitude, Where He Is Able To Beat Them Down With No One Else Around. And Jesus Shows Us Here How Important The Intercessory Ministry Is – All Of Us Have A Need For Others To Carry Us In Prayer. Peter Did Not Know What Was Happening, He Even Refuted Back, Saying, “Lord, I Am Ready To Go With You, Both To Prison And To Death” (V.33). But Having More Insight On What Was Coming, The Lord Told Him, ‘I Tell You, Peter, The Rooster Shall Not Crow This Day Before You Will Deny Three Times That You Know Me’ (V.34). Later In The Night When The Lord Had Taken His Followers Into The Garden Of Gethsemane To Await His Arrest, Jesus Again Told Them To ‘Pray That They May Not Enter Into Temptation’ (V.39) – Showing Us One Of The Many Neglected Benefits Of Prayer. Prayer Is Able To Stir Up Your Spirit And Keep Your Soul More Conscious Of God And The Power That Lives Within You, Thus Making It Easy For Children Of God To Overcome Sin. But Prayerlessness Often Passifies The Power Of The Spirit In Us, Wherein We Find Ourselves More Prone To Temptations We Have Authority Over. In The Garden, Jesus Withdrew From His Followers To Pray Alone – A Concept That Is Important Even To Believers Today. While Corporate Fellowship And Prayer Is Essential, This Does Not Negate The Benefits That Are To Be Extracted From A Quiet And Personal Time With The Father Alone, Where We Strengthen Our Intimacy And Fellowship With Him. Dreading The Incoming Torture At The Hands Of His Enemies, Jesus Did Ask God For A Way Out, But He Was Clear On The Will Of God And Did Not Pray For The Sake Of Seeing What Would Happen – He Knew Already What Was To Come; This Is All Over The Scriptures! But Believers Today Like To Use The Notion Of ‘If It Be Your Will God’ As A Way To Relinquish Responsibility And Not Stand For What We Are Coming For In Prayer. Church, Faith Begins When The Will Of God Is Known! How Can We Believe God For What We Have No Surety He Has Granted. Jesus Knew, And We Too Ought To Know The Will Of God When We Come To Him In Prayer.
Back In The Garden, The Bible Tells Us That ‘… An Angel Appeared To Him From Heaven, Strengthening Him’ (Luke 22:43). This Still Holds True Today, We Have The Ministry Of Angels To Strengthen Us When We Are Weak, We Have The Holy Spirit, We Have The Scriptures, We Have The Brethren – We Are Not Without Options And Are Covered On Every Side! Jesus Was In Indescribable Agony, His Sweat Had Thickened To The Texture Of Blood And His Glands Had Swollen – And It Has Been Often Argued By Reputable Scholars That Without The Help Of The Angelic, This Level Of Emotional Distress Could Have Killed Him In That Moment And The Lord Would Not Have Made It To The Cross. When The Betrayer And The Army Came To Seize Jesus, We Read That ‘Simon Peter, Having A Sword, Drew It And Struck The High Priest’s Servant, And Cut Off His Right Ear’ (John 18:10). This For A Moment Looked As If Peter Was Withstanding Opposition And In Fact, Honouring His Earlier Word Of Being Willing To Die With Jesus (Luke 22:33) – But What Happens Soon After Reveals That The Crux Of Withstanding Is Always In The Persistence, In The Consistency And Going The Long Road. How Many Of Us Can Stand For A Moment, But Falter In The Next? Time Only Reveals. But What Is Key To See Here, Was The Gradual Descent Into Temptation That Peter Followed. He Began By Failing To Keep The Watch Of Prayer, Then Began Following Jesus From Afar And Not Keeping Up With Him, Distancing Himself So He Does Not Go Against The Grain That Was Currently Condemning The Lord (Luke 22:54). This Happens Even Today, Believers Start Small With Missing Fellowship, Both Personal And Corporate, Then We Lose Our Spiritual Sensitivity Then After A While, Just Like Peter, We Start Compromising Our Guard In The Presence Of Enemies, All For The Sake Of Fitting In And Being Accepted. Peter Even Warmed Himself At Their Fire (V.56), Cozying Up To Apparent Fleeting Pleasures, The Same Thing The Church Does Today!
Peter Was Questioned On Three Different Occasions By This New Company He Was Now In, And All Three Times, He Dismissed His Allegiance To The Lord. The Third Time, He Heard The Rooster Crowing And Looking At The Lord, He Remembered The Word Of Warning Jesus Had Given Him, And He Went Out Weeping Bitterly (V.54-62). Peter Showed In This Moment That There Is No Fellowship With The Lord Outside Of His Word, It Was The Remembrance Of The Word That Brought Peter To Repentance – The Word Converted Him, Strengthened Him And Returned Him In A Position To Strengthen His Brethren As Well. That Is Why, Even Though Peter Had Personally And Physically Witnessed The Transfiguration On The Mount, He Later Said, ‘We Have Also A More Sure Word Of Prophecy; Whereunto Ye Do Well That Ye Take Heed…’ (2 Peter 1:19). He Knew That No Sensual Experience Weighed More Than The Word, Which Is The Mind Of God As Well, Who Has Exalted His Word Above His Very Throne (Psalms 128:2). The Same Is True For Us, We Can Have No Relationship With God Outside Of His Word, Walking In The Word Is The Highest Form Of Walking With God In The Spirit. We Learn These Three Things From Peter: That Prayer Is Able To Stir Us Away From Temptation, That Small Steps Away From The Lord And Into The World Lead To Regrettable Acts Of Disobedience, And That The Word Of God Has The Power To Establish And Restore Us Back Into The Love Of God.
Prayer
Father, Your Word Has Told Us: Cursed Is The One Who Trusts In Man, Who Depends On Flesh For His Strength And Whose Heart Turns Away From The LORD. Our Strength To Stand And Continually Choose You Is From You, You Sustain And Keep Us, You Uphold Us With Your Righteous Hand. You Are The Vine, And We Are The Branches, Apart From You We Can Do Nothing! We Bless Your Holy Name! In Jesus’ Name. Amen!
